The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music

by Colin Larkin

The aim of this book is to provide a complete handbook of information and opinion about the history of the music of the 1950s. There are over 1000 entries on the bands, musicians, songwriters, producers and record labels of this decade, everyone who had any significant impact on the postwar music culture which gave birth to rock and roll. From Doris Day, Nat King Cole, Chuck Berry and Frank Sinatra to the Everley Brothers, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Elvis Presley, this encyclopaedia aims to answer any query about any aspect of 50s music. As well as the giants of the decade, the book also includes those artists who flourished briefly such as Frankie Ford and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.

416 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 1998

About the author

Colin Larkin is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book All Time Top 1000 Albums, and edited the Guinness Who's Who of Jazz, the Guinness Who's Who of Blues, and the Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock. He has over 650000 copies in print.